Bonded jobless nurses picket again at Health Ministry

Scores of bonded unemployed nurses and midwives on Tuesday besieged the premises of the Ministry of Health to demand posting.

The trained health professionals said they have been idling at home for the past two years after successfully leaving school and completing their mandatory national service.

The spokesperson of the group, Daniel Obuor, said the Ministry has failed to respond to their various letters over their unemployment.

“We have been here several times and each time we come they will tell you they are working on it. They will say go and come the next day… We just went there are they are still telling us that they don’t have our list. We are having challenges. We are now burdens in our homes,” he said.

Picketing at the Health Ministry to demand employment has become a common phenomenon for various health professionals in the country especially in the last three (3) years.

The government has consistently given assurances that it will address their demands, but that has often been after series of protests including picketing at the ministry.

Late in 2017, a group of unemployed nurses spent two days at the Ministry demanding their posting. They had their issue resolved after they spent the night at the Ministry.

Some of the frustrated jobless nurses now deem it worthwhile to refer their concerns to the media since they believe the Ministry deliberately ignore their concerns and fail to respond to letters over their unemployment.

The commitment of the government to absorbing these doctors, and healthcare in general, was recently questioned when one of the doctors wrote to Citi FM conveying the frustration of the jobless doctors who ready to serve the country.